Wheat-Free Doesn’t Mean Gluten-Free

You may see lots of labels proudly declaring a product to be wheat-free (some of which, like spelt and kamut, aren’t really wheat-free at all). That doesn’t mean the food’s gluten free.

Gluten is in wheat, but it’s also in rye and barley — and most people on a gluten-free diet don’t eat oats, either. So something can be wheat-free but still have other gluten-containing ingredients, like malt, which is usually derived from barley. In that case, the product’s wheat-free, but it’s not gluten-free.